While few of us can draw the imaginary lines separating Charlottesville from Albemarle, recent surveys underscore the differences. When all is said and done, county living ranks just a cut above city living, according to two surveys from the UVA Center for Survey Research. Overall, they indicate that both city and county residents are extremely pleased with their quality of life in Central Virginia.
 Residents report slightly higher opinions of the quality of life in the county over the city, but that doesn’t worry Charlottesville Mayor David Brown. "How could we not be pleased?" Brown says of the survey, where residents rate the city 7.7 on a 10 point scale as a place to live. |
Commissioned separately earlier this year by the County Board of Supervisors and the City Neighborhood Development Services, the surveys covered everything from development and education to urbanization and public services. Charlottesville nabbed a mean rating of 7.72 out of 10 for quality of life, slightly down from a 7.89 rating in a similar 2000 survey. County living, however, ranked 8.04 out of 10.
Despite the city’s second-place finish, Charlottesville Mayor David Brown says he was thrilled with many of the results. “How could we not be pleased?” Brown says. “But we know where the problem areas are. Affordable housing is one of the bigger issues for people, so it was no big surprise that it was on the top of the list.” Some 90 percent of city respondents reported the cost of buying a home in Charlottesville is too high. Similarly, the percentage of respondents who reported a concern with providing affordable housing for lower-income people increased significantly to 84 percent this year, up from 74 percent of those surveyed in 2000.
While housing stood out as a top-rated concern, the survey also showed city and county residents being extremely satisfied with public services such as fire fighting and police, with 90.6 percent satisfied in the county and 87.3 percent satisfied in the city. The survey also showed what’s pretty well known: City life appeals to the young. While county respondents were mostly 50 to 64, the city respondents were mostly 26 to 37.
The least favorable rating for the county? Managing growth—only 55.6 percent approved. But Supervisor Dennis Rooker says that while growth is always an issue, people are pleased with the general idea of growth areas. “The survey did show that people favored restrictions of growth to certain development areas, which is what we’ve been doing,” Rooker says.